What? Why would anyone want to forget the greatest moment in televised sports history?? I'll never forget watching this at a bar in Midtown, with every guy in the place ooohing every time Jermaine O'Neal clocked the punk. My favorite moment of 2004. Just ask Bill.

1) The local population wants it. Put yourself in their shoes, if your town was surrounded by federally controlled land and governed by people thousands of miles away, how would you feel? They know how to use their land, and they want the drilling to help their town get jobs. But environmentalists in urban cities think they know better those who live there.

2) The amount of area to be drilled is extremely small compared to the entire reserve.

3) Alaska is unimaginably huge, and it is essentially one gigantic wilderness reserve. You can't lock it all up. Let those who live there use a teeny fraction of the land.

4) Many of the areas to be drilled aren't exactly pristine wilderness, just bland, run of the mill wilderness.

But environmentalists in urban cities think they know better those who live there.Environmentalists are those people who study the environment and know the potential risks/benefits of drilling the reserve, right? I would guess that people who do this for a living would know a litle bit more about it that a guy who just happens to live next to an oil field.

You can't lock it all up. Let those who live there use a teeny fraction of the land.I guess those people could move to another, more economically feasible area of the world, if they needed to drill for oil to survive.

4) Many of the areas to be drilled aren't exactly pristine wilderness, just bland, run of the mill wilderness.Hahaha! Bland wilderness. Explain that to the animals living there? Sorry, your woods aren't pretty enough, so we're going to go ahead and upgrade your reservation and send you over to the pristine pent house section of the reserve. Great thanks!

I don't think that there is enough oil there to warrant drilling anyway. What's the point? If it was going to be enough that the U.S. could get off of foreign oil, then I wold relent and say it was ok. But it's not going to make a difference.

I don't see why people aren't spending more time thinking up engines that don't require gasoline? We can make a microchip that holds so much data, we can clone things, we can do so many amazing things, yet no one can come up with a better engine??

but charmed1782, an alternative energy source engine might not make the "vroom-vroom" noise!

The reason so little work is being done on alternative energy resources is because our reliance on the internal combustion engine is very, very profitable for a lot of people, and the threat of running out of oil is not immediate.

Internal combustion engines will not go away until there is no more fuel for them.

Maybe we could somehow incorporate the animals into the actual drilling, you know, strap a barrel on their backs and have them lug the oil to the tankers?

If you're going to say " I guess your grandchildren will enjoy living on the moon or something, and we'll just use up this old planet entirely. I mean, who needs animals and trees and clean air and stuff?" you're oging to have to do better than that in discussing t why this is rather than this kind of silliness...

Dancin_In_Anson:I see tha everyone got a new tin foil hat under the tree this year!

Not I, wish I had though. I want one made from that new Reynolds Release stuff.

You only need to look at some of the things oil companies and others have already done to see that what I said is totally not tin hat material.

Let's look to Los Angeles. Once upon a time L.A. had one of the best public transportation systems in the world. It was sold to a conglomerate of Oil, Tire & Motor companies who then dismantled the Red Line and brought about the hideous car culture that is L.A. today. It's public transportation system is decades away from being truly useful and it's likely they'll never be able to get enough people to use it. So, yes I truly believe that if an alternative engine came about the oil companies would do anything to stop it.

Let's move to more modern times do a little research on the EV1 and see how Ford killed it and said there was no demand, they lied, the demand was huge, why then did they kill it?

Thinking that there are limitless reserves up there is a dangerous, dangerous path to take. I assure you there is a finite amount of space up there.

Yes, but the total affected area will be roughly 2000 acres for drilling. Compare that to Alaska's total size of 420,112,000 acres. I hardly think this is a slippery slope.

Okay this part was a joke right? It's "bland" so it doesn't matter?

What, you think all wilderness is pristine postcard quality wilderness? Ever lived next to bland wilderness? It's there, and it exists in massive amounts. And it often makes a huge difference in determine whether such lands can be developed, drilled, or mined. Of course everyone wants pristine postcard quality wilderness preserved. But if it's bland, generic, boring land...then it doesn't exactly qualify for locking it up so locals can't use it.

whatshisnameIs it really worth farking up the last pristine piece of wilderness on the continent for 1-2 years worth of oil?

Try this. Go to the local towns near the areas to be drilled, and convince them why they can't use their land for drilling. Convince them that you know how to run it better than they do. Try explaining why it's better for the common good that they can't have jobs because you want to have an extra few thousands acres of the huge wilderness that surrounds them locked up.

Yes, but the total affected area will be roughly 2000 acres for drilling. Compare that to Alaska's total size of 420,112,000 acres. I hardly think this is a slippery slope.

My point was that your line of thinking is dangerous. Yes, right now the percentage we would use seems small. But it won't be so small in 30 years, let alone in 100. Unless steps are taken now, we're asking for trouble and ignoring the inevitable.

What, you think all wilderness is pristine postcard quality wilderness?

No, I don't. I just don't think how pretty something is should determine wether or not we drill there. "So the locals can use it" is not the only reason not to drill.

Try this. Go to the local towns near the areas to be drilled, and convince them why they can't use their land for drilling. Convince them that you know how to run it better than they do.

We shouldn't have to do that, because we should know better. When the U.S. goes into third world nations (example here- I'm not saying Alaska is third world) the locals don't understand what long term damage dropping a factory there will do. All they understand is that we'll pay them, and that sounds great. But just because they agree does not make it right. Bottom line- we should know better.

Maybe we could somehow incorporate the animals into the actual drilling, you know, strap a barrel on their backs and have them lug the oil to the tankers?

If you're going to say " I guess your grandchildren will enjoy living on the moon or something, and we'll just use up this old planet entirely. I mean, who needs animals and trees and clean air and stuff?" you're oging to have to do better than that in discussing t why this is rather than this kind of silliness...

I was just trying to make light of the situation. I don't really want to get involved in a heated flamewar with you, because I know where you stand and don't feel like wasting my time or remaining brain cells trying to convince you otherwise. VIVA LA BUSH BACKER!

/ok that last one was just a little dig//last troll of the year and all that

Tell Them I Hate ThemThe locals don't understand what long term damage dropping a factory there will do. All they understand is that we'll pay them, and that sounds great. But just because they agree does not make it right. Bottom line- we should know better.

Wow. Just wow. We should know better than those who live there how to use the land? They're too ignorant to know better? Wow, that had to be one of the snootiest, condescending answers I've ever heard.